Ayuda de HUD para la recuperación de desastres

No matter where you live, disasters can happen. Severe hurricanes and storms cause destructive winds and devastating floods. Forest fires destroy houses and businesses. Earthquakes can paralyze entire communities. All disasters have something in common. After they happen, people need help. When the president issues a disaster declaration, a massive aid operation is initiated. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, takes the lead and works with state and local organizations to provide survivors with food, water, and shelter. Depending on the severity of the disaster, this initial response can last weeks, even months. At a given time, this response leads to a long-term recovery process. It may be necessary to rebuild tens of thousands of houses and businesses and restore essential infrastructure services such as water, sewage, and electricity. The total cost of recovery can be exorbitant. Private insurance and government assistance can take on much of this cost, but generally, a large number of needs are left unresolved. To support long-term recovery, Congress created a community development program for a specific subsidy specifically for disaster recovery, CDBGDR for short, Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program. After a disaster, Congress can provide millions, sometimes billions, of dollars for this program and orders the Department of Housing and Urban Development to distribute these funds in the places where the greatest needs are found. Once HUD distributes these dollars, planning on how to use them begins. This phase of recovery requires the participation of everyone, state and local governments, engineers, business leaders, and local citizens. These plans can include the protection of neighborhoods and families of future storms, removing them from the danger zone, and making communities more solid and habitable than before. Although all this planning can take several months, HUD can speed it up by reducing procedures and offering technical assistance. When recovery plans are complete, physical recovery work begins. After a disaster, the reconstruction of entire communities does not happen overnight. The process can take months, sometimes years. But throughout the process, HUD remains committed to helping people and places to recover, to restore the prosperity of communities, both in large cities and in small towns.